The Energon Pub

The first in-package image of TFC Toys next Hercules figure, Structor, has been posted to their weibo page. According to site sponsors this figure should be available sometime this week! Image mirrored below.

Just ordered Structor. Half way there!!!

Woohoo. Good stuff. I can't wait to get mines when Dr. Crank is released in december. I am ready to say "Constructicons, Transformer, phase one."

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:*drool* I really need to get on the bandwagon sometime soon, but the price...

Agreed. Future box set?

Any more word on the replacement part for Heavy Labor? What is the issue exactly and which leg is it?

Although I'm excited to see another limb enter my "Hercules" case. It kinda sucks these are coming out so fast, it's lowering my credit score as I type this.

Still, I'm willing to bet Dr. Crank will get released in December as well. This will be a tough month on the wallet.

Exgraver and Heavylabor are kinda lonely in their Glass Prison (DTM \m/)

bfett88 wrote:Any more word on the replacement part for Heavy Labor? What is the issue exactly and which leg is it?

The replacement parts for Heavy Labor will come with either Neckbreaker or Mad Blender. The issue is with the ratchet joints in the hips that allow for forward and backward movement of the legs, there's a design flaw that causes the teeth to get stripped from the cogs.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Andrius wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:*drool* I really need to get on the bandwagon sometime soon, but the price...

Agreed. Future box set?

I'm praying for one, but the total price would be staggering. The euro price is already $105 to $120 converted for one figure alone, imagine the box set price... Well, there's always second production runs.

Unless the company goes under in the next few months, it seems the only way for them to really capitalize on this investment is to release a few runs/variations of these items. Even Fansproject stuff seems to be seeing the eventual retailer discount, so here's hoping. Then there's the Maketoys one of course, so I won't be eating out for a few years...

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Andrius wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:*drool* I really need to get on the bandwagon sometime soon, but the price...

Agreed. Future box set?

I'm praying for one, but the total price would be staggering. The euro price is already $105 to $120 converted for one figure alone, imagine the box set price... Well, there's always second production runs.

I'm pre-ordering both this and Dr. Crank from Robotkingdom, 95$ each including shipping to Europe. I'm not saying they come cheap, but if you order them by the couple you can save something. I'm quite pleased of Exgraver, the QC issue on Heavy Labor is dreadful, though.
In a nutshell, the ratchet joints were poorly designed and could snap, making HL (and Hercules) inable to stand. They said they'll solve the issue but we still don't know how, as far as I know...

Wow, are people having this happen to them? Nothing on mine, just one of the legs is not all the way strait and is a little bouncy, but the ratchet works fine still. When I use my transformers I always try to be extra careful.

bfett88 wrote:Wow, are people having this happen to them? Nothing on mine, just one of the legs is not all the way strait and is a little bouncy, but the ratchet works fine still. When I use my transformers I always try to be extra careful.

The misaligned leg is an easy fix, here's the tutorial. If you haven't damaged your hip ratchets already and just don't it you will if you keep moving them forward and backwards. It's not a QC issue it's a design flaw, in other words it's not just one here and there, it's all of them. However, since they are going to supply replacement parts it's a non-issue.

Ive fixed alot of broken figures and mis-assembled KO's but that fix looks complex. Im sure its easy but the pics kind of confuse me. Cant wait to get Scrapper and the rest.

thanks for the leg fix tutorial
now heavy labor has 2 normal legs

Rated X wrote:Ive fixed alot of broken figures and mis-assembled KO's but that fix looks complex. Im sure its easy but the pics kind of confuse me. Cant wait to get Scrapper and the rest.

I thought the same thing when I first saw this image, but it really isn't that hard. I'll be interested to see exactly what replacement parts they come up with, because no matter what they are it's going to require disassembling the figure.

Has anyone on the boards actually encountered the issue with the stripping of the leg joints? Anyone around here now not able to make Heavylabor stand. I am just curios how wide spread this is.

bfett88 wrote:Has anyone on the boards actually encountered the issue with the stripping of the leg joints? Anyone around here now not able to make Heavylabor stand. I am just curios how wide spread this is.

Mine aren't totally stripped, but you can tell something isn't right in there. To be honest I'm surprised there hasn't been more of an outcry on here about the problem. It's been discussed extensively over on TFW and many have posted about it on TFC Toys facebook page. It's very widespread, as in every figure has the design flaw. There may be a few examples out there that are more durable than others but they will all fail if moved enough. You won't have a problem with Heavy Labor himself standing, because even with the gears stripped there's enough friction to keep him standing. The problem will arise when combined because he's going to be carrying the weight of three voyager class figures on his back.

Check this topic out:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... ost6846186

Wait! I thought Dr. Crank was due out next. In fact, it was supposed to be due out at the end of this month. What happened with it? I've not seen anything about it being shipped out later or delayed. Now this is showing that Structor is actually coming out ahead of Dr. Crank and I so wasn't financially prepared for that.

wolverinetodd wrote:Wait! I thought Dr. Crank was due out next. In fact, it was supposed to be due out at the end of this month. What happened with it? I've not seen anything about it being shipped out later or delayed. Now this is showing that Structor is actually coming out ahead of Dr. Crank and I so wasn't financially prepared for that.

Yep, looks like Structor and Dr. Crank have been flip flopped, Sturctor is due out this week, with Crank sometime in December.

Yeah, it's flipped back and forth a couple times...originally Structor was supposedto come out first, then it looked to change to Crank, and now it's back to Structor.

And all the Heavy Labor figures are flawed. If you've moved for legs forward or back, the gears have been chewed up to some extent...

IMHO,this TFC Structor looks more like a CR/Rid construction/robot toy than a 1985 constructicon toy.

I like the Giant constructicons. because at the very least the artist/designers tried to come as close to the 1985 constructicons individual modes & devestator mode as possible. also the deluxe sizes for each constructicon in the giant set makes them in cartoon size scale.

Definitely the best looking one of the lot.

So we are talking shipped from China this wee? Then BBTS should have it next week. The in our hands by the next. So two and a half to three weeks until in hand?

bfett88 wrote:So we are talking shipped from China this wee? Then BBTS should have it next week. The in our hands by the next. So two and a half to three weeks until in hand?

Robotkingdom claims they will have them this week, if that's accurate then the domestic retailers will probably get theirs about a week later.